Today, the Indy Racing League officially announced its sponsorship agreement with DirecTV that was first reported on this site March 27. Sources familiar with the multi-year deal said it is worth $3 million annually.

Beginning with the April 6 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, all IRL races will be carried in DirecTV HD.

As the “premiere official sponsor” for the IRL, DirecTV will be recognized in the series logo, IRL officials said. DirecTV will also receive extensive branding placements throughout each IRL race, including in-car camera mounts, placement on all driver uniforms and cars, and branding throughout pit road. The Fan Zone at each track will also feature DirecTV co-branded interactive kiosks where race fans can learn about the racing history, components of each car, and get updated stats on each driver and race.

In addition to its league sponsorship, DirecTV has also become a primary sponsor for Vision Racing, which is operated by IRL boss Tony George. Locally based Just Marketing International helped broker the DirecTV deal.

Now that IRL officials have the DirecTV deal signed, they are focused on finding a title sponsor.

Check out the new series logo shown with this posting and let us know what you think.

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Managing Editor

Schouten is an Indianapolis native and Indiana University graduate who joined IBJ in 2006 after stints at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Arizona Republic. He covered the real estate beat for most of those years, and launched the Property Lines blog, before taking over as managing editor in March 2013.

Schouten has been honored for investigative and enterprise reporting by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the Alliance of Area Business Publications and the Society of Professional Journalists in Indianapolis. During his tenure as moderator of Property Lines, the blog was recognized twice as the best among business journals by the AAPB.

Schouten serves as secretary of the board of governors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, and is set to serve as the organization's president in 2016. He is treasurer of the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation, and a board member of the Indianapolis Public Schools Education Foundation.

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On Tuesday, April 24 IBJ & Indiana University will host Education-to-Employment (E2E) Convergence, a panel discussion focused on how Indiana can build a talent strategy around a more highly educated workforce. E2E will identify examples of successful partnerships to better integrate college graduates into our workforce from around the state. Register today.